‘Profound policy change’ essential for UK economy to work

'Unique opportunity to put economy on foundation of values and virtues' - Welby

Published:06:00Thursday 17 November 2016

Share this article

Sign Up To Our Daily Newsletter

The referendum vote for Brexit has exposed “fundamental” problems in the way Britain’s economy works which cannot be solved by “tinkering at the edges” of existing policies, according to a new report.

The report by the IPPR thinktank found that the economy was “not working” for most of the population, reflected in a poll suggesting that more than half of Britons (51%) believe the UK economy is unfair for the majority.

The warning came as the IPPR unveiled a new Commission on Economic Justice, featuring prominent figures from business, unions and civil society, to undertake a two-year non-political inquiry to “rewrite the rules for the post-Brexit economy (and) craft a new vision for the UK economy in 2030”.

The Archbishop described the Commission as “a unique opportunity to reflect on the vision for our economy for the next 20 years and, in a time of significant change and uncertainty, seek to put our economy on a foundation of values and virtues”.

Ms O’Grady said she hoped it would “build a broad consensus (on) a new bargain for workers - fair pay, better jobs and a real say in how companies are run”, while Mr Maier said he hoped to find solutions to ensure that business creates “long-term value for the economy and society”.

The IPPR report warned that Britain is suffering from a number of issues including:

:: a lack of investment

:: a huge imbalance between imported and exported goods

:: a fiscal imbalance as government spends more than it raises in taxes and

:: an income problem which sees gains from economic growth flowing mostly to a small minority of the very riches, while the incomes of the poor stagnate

The economic strength hailed by ministers masks “an economy that is succeeding at the top, but facing deep troubles below the surface”, said the report.

It cited Bank of England figures showing that, while GDP is now 7% higher than in 2008, national income per head has scarcely increased at all over the same period.

And it found that the proceeds of growth are anyway not being “fairly shared”, with half of all UK households seeing “no meaningful improvement in their incomes for more than a decade” and no region outside London and the South-East seeing GDP per head back at its pre-crisis peak.

IPPR director Tom Kibasi said: “The Brexit vote, and the election of Donald Trump, shows we must build an economy with economic justice at its heart.

“The problems we face aren’t temporary weaknesses in an otherwise sound model. The foundations of our economy need to be rethought and the rules of the economy need to be rewritten.”